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Thursday, 17 March 2011

Operation Warboard

One of the early books which seems to get unjustly neglected is Gavin Lyall's Operation Warboard (though it does have a number of strong adherents). Lyall was better known as a thriller writer, and was married to the journalist Katherine Whitehorn.

I wonder if anyone out there remembers making the machine gun grid for this game...

I am fortunate that my copy of the book is the original hardback (though I have a sneaking suspicion I may have a paperback copy somewhere too).

The pictures show the front and back covers of the hardback (published Adam and Charles Black 1976) and an ad for the Pan paberback from Military Modelling incorporating Battle for wargamers from November 1978.

21 comments:

This was my starting set of Wargame rules back in the day (along with Grants Battle!).I lent the hardback version and never saw it again but still have the 'new' paperback version.I still have my original MG and Artillery grids :-)

Another classic - i must have read it dozens of times as a teenage WW2 fanatic(and it was reassuring to see games pictured that looked worse than mine at the time..8-). I made the templates from Melinex plastic 'liberated' from the local ICI works. I still have the paperback - which features Gilder's WW2 stuff on the cover so is clearly the one to get. Cheers.

Yes, a classic and I still have my original hardback copy. D-Day with chalked on terrain, determinedly stepped hills and turning tanks on their sides when knocked out all added to the charm. I think we made our MG grids from acetate sheets - still have them somewhere...

I sold my paperback copy of Op. Warboard many years ago, much to my regret. I recall playing the opening scenario about 30-odd years back, but used a Tiger instead of the the Panther in the original. Now: you are just not going to believe this, but my opponent - a non-wargaming younger brother - got a disabling hit first go - needing a 12 of 2D6 to do so, and then promptly knocked the thing out with a second disabling hit next turn! Fortunately the Tiger had KOed one of the 3 Shermans before its own demise, but the from right there it was obvious the Germans were not going to hold the village.All the same, the Allies had some exciting street fighting to do before prising the Germans' fingers loose. I think one of the remaining Shermans was knocked out by a panzerfaust as it advanced slowly up the main street.Three or four years ago I tried the thing with a friend. Very hard to get used to the very short ranges (deployed my 3" mortars much too far to the rear!Must revisit that rule set. I have a photocopied version kicking around somewhere... I never did make the MG grid...

I have a copy of the hard cover in excellent condition with a publication date of 1976. I bought it at Historicon in the 1990s. The seller had a stack of about 20 or 30 copies, all missing their dust covers but otherwise in mint condition. I thought it was a reprint until I checked the publication date. Is it possible that a large number of uncirculated copies would end up in the U.S. ?

I think the writing style is one of the best ever deployed for a set of wargames rules and the professionalism of the writer shines through. The use of grids ( I recenlty remade mine) makes for a more realistic dispersal of troops and tactics. I dispair of some of the Flames of War write ups that you see on the net with mudgard to mudgard lines of tanks sugging it out at each other and have always preferd WW2 infantry on individual bases so that they can practise proper tactics rather then just being on squad bases that just act like a rather slow poorly armed vehicle.

I loved this book and read it to bits as a teenager. My brother and dad made all the grids - the MG one (which I broke) and both the artillery ones (one for accuracy, one for effect). I refought Pont-de-la-Croix a couple of times. If I had a criticism it was that the rules made the gameplay a bit too slow but that was no doubt just teenage impatience. Did I mention that I loved this book?

I still have mine and the various firing templates. What makes me laugh now is that Lyall and son apparently played their games with Airfix figures, unpainted, straight out of the box. I doubt you'd see that in any ruleset book today. And we still had fun then.

Cracking book - we played the village scenario on Thursday evening this week - the Allies didn't get any armour over the bridge! No Panther for me though, just a couple of Pumas. Playing it again this week with my opponent in defence this time.RegardsAndy

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